


Over and Over

by PhantomDreamshade



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, But the reader is more of an OC so be warned, But there's a reason for it, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Relatively fast burn, Romance, male reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 07:25:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18139178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomDreamshade/pseuds/PhantomDreamshade
Summary: Complicated. You hated that word, really - when someone told you things were ‘complicated’ you knew that they had no idea what the word really meant. And yet, it was really the only word you could use to describe your life. “Complicated.”Your secrets had secrets and you were towing around a mountain of personal baggage. There were very few people in your life that really understood you and you were perfectly content to never interact with anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary - because of all the things you disliked, people were at the top of that list.Enter one Sans the Skeleton, who is very much aware of what the word ‘complicated’ means. Looking back on it, it doesn’t surprise you at all how hard you fell for him. You didn’t believe in happy endings, but you’d be damned if you didn’t give him one - no matter how many tries it takes.~Updates (hopefully) every other Saturday~





	1. How Novel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet a few new people in the woods.

It was all about timing, really. Well, being in the right place at the right time, you supposed. The woods around Mount Ebott weren’t exactly your go-to place for a quiet walk, but you had decided that you wanted a change of scenery and it wasn’t all that far from your house.

Most people would have freaked out if they saw a six-foot-five skeleton bounding towards them excitedly with an equally tall fish-woman running to catch up to him, but it honestly wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen to you. The skeleton waved excitedly and you gave him a polite wave back.

A third monster came into view as the skeleton skidded to a halt in front of you - a yellow lizard, probably more than a little out of shape, panting heavily as she tried to catch up with the other two. A second, much shorter skeleton also appeared next to you from seemingly nowhere, hands in the pockets of his blue jacket nonchalantly.

“HELLO, HUMAN!” the tall skeleton said, the volume of his voice nearly knocking you over. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MASCOT OF THE MONSTER RACE, AND I WOULD LIKE TO BE YOUR FRIEND!” He stuck out his hand proudly and put on a big, friendly smile.

“It’s an honor,” you chuckled, shaking his hand.

“Papyrus, you can’t just walk up to people… and…” the fish-woman finally caught up and stared at your handshake with a mildly amused smile. “...Oooor maybe you can.”

“not at all freaked out by the fact that you just got surrounded by a pack of monsters, huh?” the shorter skeleton said. He wore a goofy smile, but then again you weren’t sure if he was capable of any other expression.

“You don’t seem very threatening,” you said. “No offense.” The little guy just shrugged. You told him your name and offered your hand to him. He shook it and the sound of a deflating whoopee cushion filled the air.

“SANS!” Papyrus shouted over your laughter, furious. “WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE A  _ GOOD _ FIRST IMPRESSION!” Papyrus noticed your hand over your mouth in an attempt to stifle your laughter, and he got even more angry. “NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE! YOU BROKE THE VERY FIRST HUMAN WE MET OUTSIDE THE BARRIER!”

“ain’t my fault the kid was born with a funny bone and you weren’t,” Sans shrugged, giving you a smile.

“And who are these two lovely ladies?” you asked, turning to the fish and the lizard and waiting for the introductions to finish.

“Name’s Undyne,” the fish-woman said. “Captain - uh, former captain of the Royal Guard. And this is Alphys!” Undyne picked up the lizard monster and held her against her chest proudly. “She’s, like, the smartest person in the whole world.”

“Th-That’s not quite… u-um… hi,” Alphys waved.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” you smiled. “Did you come from under the mountain?”

“U-Um, yes, actually,” Alphys said. “How did you know?”

“There were always legends about that place,” you shrugged. “Guess they’re real, since you’re standing right in front of me. I’m guessing you haven’t been to town yet?”

“WE HAVE NOT, HUMAN! WE’RE GOING THERE RIGHT NOW!”

“...You might want to go a little slower,” you suggested. “Most humans freak out pretty easily. My house is just a little bit out of town; why don’t you all come over for dinner and we can figure out a less dramatic way of introducing you.”

“BUT WHY WOULD WE WANT TO BE  _ LESS _ DRAMATIC? THE MORE DRAMATIC, THE BETTER! THAT’S WHAT METTATON ALWAYS SAYS, ANYWAY.”

“Yeah, dramatic definitely  _ isn’t  _ better in this case, Papyrus,” Undyne said. “So yes, dinner would be awesome! I’ll even help you cook.”

“OOH, I’LL HELP TOO!”

Alphys shook her head subtly at you in the universal sign of “that’s a bad idea but I can’t say that out loud.” You gave her a little smile.

“Oh no, I’ll cook - I insist. It’s a tradition in my family that the host serves the guests.”

“Well, if it’s a tradition, I guess,” Undyne said, slightly disappointed. “But you let us know if you change your mind!”

“Of course.”

“We should, u-um, go get everyone else then,” Alphys said.

“I bet I can beat all of you back to Toriel and Asgore!” Undyne said, taking off with Alphys still in her arms.

“NO HEADSTARTS!” Papyrus called after her, rushing off.

“i’ll go with the new guy and show you how to get to his place, then,” Sans called after them. “welp. just you an’ me, pal.”

“My house is this way,” you chuckled, beginning to walk.

“...you’re pretty darn chill about this whole thing,” Sans said, and the playfulness that had been in his voice earlier was replaced with suspicion. That made you feel just a little uncomfortable.

“I’d like to think of myself as an open-minded person,” you said. “So what if you don’t have skin? You can clearly think and feel just like any other person. End of story.”

“wasn’t talking about being racist,” Sans said. “most of us monsters would at least be surprised if we found a human walking around the underground. you didn’t even bat an eye.”

“So what would you prefer, then?” you asked. “That  _ eyelash _ out at you guys or run away screaming?”

Sans snorted a little at the pun. “...no, of course not. i’m just curious what makes you take this stuff so nonchalantly is all.”

“I’ve always been hard to surprise,” you shrugged. “Anyway, here we are - mi casa, su casa.”

You had a nice house - though that might’ve been understating it a little. It was more like a small manor, and it had been in the family for generations. You and your family had done a pretty good job of keeping it updated, though you were fairly certain that they still told ghost stories about the crazy family that lived in Warden’s Manor on the edge of Ebott Town. You found it more amusing than anything else.

“...you want some real help getting dinner started?” Sans offered. “we’re gonna have another three joining us and undyne eats like a horse.”

“Yes, please,” you chuckled. “You can be in charge of dessert.”

“alright. wouldn’t call myself a master chef like papyrus, but i got a decent pie recipe up my sleeve. i just hope undyne doesn’t throw it in someone’s face. hey, if she hits the right person, though, we could have a—”

“Pa- _ pie _ -rus?” you said, grinning.

“hey, no stealing my thunder,” Sans said, smiling even wider than he had been. “i’m the pun master ‘round these parts.”

“You aren’t from these parts, good sir,” you said, putting on a regal voice, “and you’ve yet to beat me in a game of wits. You claim no such dominion over me.”

“touché,” Sans said. “better watch your back, your majesty. that throne’s gonna be mine.”

You both started laughing as you led Sans into your kitchen and directed him toward the pantry. “Hey, no offense, but… can you actually eat human food?” you asked him.

“...uh. didn’t think about that,” Sans said. “got something i can try?”

You tossed him a piece of hard candy from your jar of assorted, unhealthy sugary things, and he unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. It clattered down through his ribcage until it fell onto the floor.

“whoops. sorry. this might not work after all,” Sans said.

“But I’m guessing you can still, like, eat some kind of monster food, right?” you asked.

“yeah. tell you what - you give me a shopping list and i’ll go pick up some monster ingredients and we can cook those up. i know for a fact humans can eat monster food.”

“Sure thing,” you said, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper. “You just let me know how much I owe you.”

“don’t worry about it,” Sans said. “you’re the one feeding us. i got a few coupons that are gonna be useless in a few days anyway.”

“If you’re sure,” you said, handing him the list.

“yup. i’ll be back in two shakes,” Sans said, walking out of view. You went out and started setting the table.


	2. Dinner Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have dinner with the monsters.

“Are you sure you would not like any help, dear?” The kindly goat-woman, whose name was Toriel, watched as you balanced several plates of food on both arms and walked to the table carefully.

“Thanks, but really, I’m fiiiugh!” You lost your footing, starting to tip over as you tried not to destroy the meal you and Sans had worked so hard on. Well, mostly you. Sans had ended up turning out a decent-looking pie for dessert but had joked and connived his way out of any other work you might have tried to give him. Not that you minded all that much; cooking was cathartic for you, even when you were trying to whip up a full buffet for eight people as quickly as possible.

You felt a rush of force against your skin, steadying you and the plates of food. It was sort of gentle; more like a shift in gravity than an actual shove. You glanced at Sans and smiled. “Heh. Thanks.”

Sans gave you a mildly confused look as you set the plates on the table slowly and pulled up a seat next to him and Toriel. You’d seated Toriel and the other goat-monster Asgore on opposite ends of the table; she had been shooting him dirty glances the entire time. You sat Undyne and Alphys together on one side and Sans and Papyrus together on the other; the monsters’ young human companion Frisk took a seat between Toriel and Alphys.

“Thank you again for sharing your home with us tonight,” Asgore said, smiling and pouring himself a cup of tea. “You truly have no idea how much we appreciate it.”

“Oh it’s my pleasure,” you said. “I hope the surface has been everything you’ve wanted so far?”

“IT’S BEEN AMAZING, HUMAN!” Papyrus said.

“Papyrus, you know the man’s name. It is rude to simply call him ‘human’ all the time.” Toriel’s tone was gentle but firm. She seemed to radiate motherly energy.

“OH… I’M VERY SORRY,” Papyrus said, clearly embarrassed. You could almost feel Sans tense up next to you.

“It’s okay Papyrus, really,” you said. “You don’t—” You were cut off by the sound of your cell phone ringing. “...Ahem. Excuse me for a moment.” You backed away from the table a little.

“Sparks? It’s Crim. I got your letter. You’ve probably heard this a hundred times by now, but… I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what must be going through your head right now.”

“...It’s okay, Crim,” you said. “When can you and Paws be here?”

“Within the week,” Crim said. “As soon as I finish all the prep work you asked for.”

“Alright. Thank you. See you then, Crim.” You hung up and returned to the table. “Sorry about that.”

“W-Who are Paws and C-Crim?” Alphys asked.

“My brother and sister,” you said. “They’re going to be staying with me for a while in a week or so.”

“...You have a brother named Paws?” Undyne asked, skeptical.

“Well those aren’t their real names, they’re just nicknames we’ve always used for each other. They call me Sparks.”

“OOH, NICKNAMES ARE SO FUN! CAN I CALL YOU ‘SPARKS’ TOO?”

“Heh. Sure, if you want to, Papyrus.” You smiled at him.

“GREAT! YOU CAN CALL ME BY MY NICKNAME, TOO! IT’S  _ THE GREAT  _ PAPYRUS, NYEH HEH HEH!”

You couldn’t help but chuckle as you glanced at Sans, who was grinning ear to ear (so to speak). “Sure thing, The Great Papyrus.”

And with that everyone began helping themselves to the food, passing around dishes and stacking all your hard work onto their plates. Sans had been right about Undyne’s appetite - the pile of casserole and salad greens and other assorted goodies on her plate had to be a foot high at least. You smiled to yourself, helping yourself to some of your personal favorites, before sliding a bottle of ketchup to Sans.

“...oh. thanks,” he said. He uncapped the bottle and chugged half of it down, everyone else at the table except for you and Frisk making faces of disgust. Undyne looked between you and Frisk slowly.

“...Don’t tell me humans drink ketchup too or something,” she said, narrowing her good eye. You chuckled, spearing a few buttered vegetables with your fork and putting them into your mouth. Mmm. Not bad, if you did say so yourself.

“...Already seen him do it before,” Frisk said, picking at their small plate of food. Their voice was soft and monotone, as if they didn’t speak all that often. Their eyes were heavily lidded and shadowed beneath their long bangs as well, making their expression almost impossible to read. They seemed to shrink into their chair and the bulky striped sweater they wore.

You shook your head a little to clear your thoughts. “People have different tastes. I can’t judge, there’s weird things I like too,” you said.

“see? sparks gets it,” Sans said, grinning at his brother. Papyrus just sighed and took a bite of his food, his mood instantly lightening up.

“THIS IS VERY GOOD, HUM— UM. SPARKS! ALMOST AS GOOD AS MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI!”

“That’s a big compliment coming from you, Papyrus. Thank you.” You could see Papyrus’ eyesockets practically sparkle. You glanced at Sans to see honest adoration flicker through his eyelights as he looked at Papyrus and it made your heart melt a little.

The rest of dinner was pleasant, making small talk with everyone. You quickly learned everyone’s positions on puns - Sans cracked them constantly, Toriel would fall into completely hysterical fits of laughter, and Papyrus would enter completely hysterical fits of rage. Alphys and Undyne just groaned, and Asgore offered up ample pity-laughs and fake smiles. Frisk, like they apparently did with most things, remained unresponsive. Other than having to dissuade Undyne from a food fight at one point, it went off without a hitch. Toriel more or less demanded she help you with dishes, so you and her carried the plates into the kitchen and started scrubbing them down.

“I am very glad that the first human we have met on the surface has been so hospitable,” Toriel said, smiling at you. “I am very optimistic about moving to Ebott Town.”

You remained quiet for a minute, swiping a wet sponge in absentminded circles over a plate. “...I don’t want to sound discouraging, but… I would exercise caution when it comes to the humans. You’ll find many of them aren’t so friendly.”

“Well I know that there will be some humans that are not very accepting of us,” Toriel said, “but I am confident many of them will be. Especially if you and Frisk would vouch for us?” She looked at you hopefully.

“Of course I would,” you said. “Like I said. Just… be cautious. That’s all I ask.”

“We will be,” Toriel said, drying the last of the dishes and handing it to you so you could put it away. You both walked out into the main room.

“Thanks again for d-dinner,” Alphys said.

“It’s no problem. Really,” you said. “I guess you’re all planning on going back home soon?”

“Yes,” Asgore said. “Unfortunately we do not really have anywhere to stay on the surface at the moment. I think we will get up bright and early tomorrow to meet with the humans, though.”

“I’ll wait for you up by the mountain, then,” you said. “I’ll call the city council tonight and tell them I have something very important they need to hear. I have some connections there.”

“That would be wonderful,” Toriel said. “Thank you so much for everything.” She looked around at the other monsters. “Well… I suppose we should be on our way.”

“You’re all welcome here any time,” you said. They all waved goodbye, closing the door behind them, and you sat down on the couch, spent. You pulled out your cell phone once again.

“Hey Sam, it’s me,” you said. “Listen, I have something very important I need to bring up with the city council. Can you call an emergency meeting for tomorrow morning? I know it’s short notice but… you’re all going to want to see this. Trust me.”

“...Are you serious, man? What’s this super-important thing you just  _ have _ to tell the council  _ tomorrow?” _

“You won’t believe it unless you see it. Please. I’m calling in one of those favors you owe me. You know I don’t bother with stuff like this unless it’s important.”

“...Fine, fine,” Sam sighed. “This better be good. If this ends up to be some kind of prank they’re gonna crucify me.”

“I promise it will be,” you said, chuckling. “Thanks, man. See you tomorrow.” You hung up and leaned back against the couch cushions.

* * *

 

Sans frowned and glanced down at his feet as they started the hike back to the mountain, chuckling to himself. “...i’ll catch up with you guys. left something at the house.” He turned around and knocked on your door.

You sighed to yourself and got back up, opening the door and smiling as soon as you saw his goofy grin. “Back so soon? I guess you just can’t get enough of me.”

Sans snorted, hands still in the pockets of his jacket. “i mean i definitely felt some  _ sparks _ flying during dinner, but maybe that’s moving too fast. you seen my slippers? must’ve kicked ‘em off under the table or something.”

You glanced down at Sans’ feet to see he was just wearing socks, and mudstained ones at that. “Stay there. Don’t need your muddy sock-prints all over my floor.” You gave him a sarcastic grin, grabbed his slippers from under the table, and tossed them on the ground in front of his feet.

“heh. thanks,” Sans said. “you’re a good guy, sparks.”

“I try,” you said, smiling. “See you tomorrow for the meeting with the humans?”

“if i don’t oversleep,” Sans winked, putting his slippers on. He paused for a second and then looked up at you again. “...how’d you know it was me that kept you from falling over?”

“...I dunno. Lucky guess, I guess.” You gave him a shrug. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

“...yeah. no prob. i’ll see you tomorrow.” You closed the door behind him as he left and walked to the window, watching him disappear into the trees through your blinds. You ignored the ache building in your chest and stripped down to your boxers, cocooning yourself into your blankets and falling into a fitful sleep as you waited for the sun to come back up.


	3. Welcome Wagon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The town council convenes.

You had snazzed yourself up a little for the meeting today - nothing too dramatic, just a pair of dark slacks and a button-up shirt in your favorite color - and you couldn’t decide whether you were underdressed or overdressed. Sans had arrived in the exact same outfit he had worn the previous day (you were almost certain he’d just slept in the same clothes and rolled out of bed like this) and Frisk retained their striped-sweater style they seemed so fond of, but Undyne was in a full suit of polished, ornate armor and Asgore in a flowing, kingly robe. You eventually decided you were fine being somewhere in the middle.

“Is everyone ready?” you asked, giving them your best optimistic smile. Asgore smiled back, much more sincerely than you had managed, and nodded. From the look Sans was giving you it seemed he’d seen through your thin facade already. You forced your smile to brighten a little and let the way through the empty pre-dawn streets to the city hall and motioned for them to stay put.

You took a breath and walked into a room filled with a half-dozen very tired and very cranky-looking council members. They all glared at you as you walked in save for Sam, who was sweating bullets from his chair.

“This had better be good,” one of them said, a grey-haired man with stress-lines all over his face.

“It is,” you said. “A group of people is here to parlay with you.”

“...Parlay?” he asked, clearly confused.

“Parlay,” you repeated.

“Who are these people?” the councilman asked.

“The monsters of Mount Ebott.”

The councilman blinked. “...Excuse me?”

You turned to the door. “Asgore?”

The king walked into the room with Frisk trailing behind him and everyone immediately scrambled away from the door. Asgore pretended not to notice, giving a respectful bow. “Good Council of Ebott, I am King Asgore of the Kingdom of Monsters. And this is my ambassador, Frisk.” Frisk waved lightly as everyone stared at them both in disbelief.

You looked at the council pointedly. “I hope you all can make a good first impression and avoid… you know. Being rude, that sort of thing.” They all slunk back toward their seats save for one, avoiding eye contact. “I’ll be outside in case anyone would like my input for some reason.”

The councilman that had backed up against the window stared at you wild-eyed. “You can’t— Why would— alone with—”

“He poses no threat to you,” you said, giving him a disappointed stare. “Unless you do something stupid like, say, trying to attack him. Now stop whining like a five-year-old and sit down. You’re being immensely disrespectful.”

The last councilman walked to his seat slowly, shuddering the entire time and staring at Asgore’s feet. You could see the nerves on Asgore’s face now as well. You gave him a pat on the back as you left and sat outside with Sans and Undyne. You heard Asgore offer to make everyone tea as you closed the door.

“...wow. they’re… jumpy,” Sans said, looking at you.

“Isn’t that how they’re supposed to act, according to you?” you said.

“i said surprised, not try-to-jump-out-the-window. i mean come on, he’s a giant fluffy goat. only time the king’s remotely intimidating is when he tries to be.”

Undyne glanced at the door as the voices behind it started raising and you sighed. “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. And you’re right outside the door if anything happens.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Undyne grumbled. Shouts continued to drift from the room and the air grew tense around you.

“...damn. sounds like asgore’s really getting their  _ goats _ in there,” Sans said. You snorted with laughter as Undyne sighed at the pun. Almost as if in response, the shouting died down a little and the air seemed less heavy.

“So… just who are you up here anyway?” Undyne asked, turning to face you.

“What do you mean?”

“You know. Why do you have the authority to call the council or whatever?”

You laughed a little. “Eh, the laws in this town are kind of archaic. My family is very wealthy and helped build a lot of the town, so I have a lot of pull you could say. I generally don’t like slinging the family name around like that, but if it’s for a good cause…” You shrugged.

“so... there’s like, aristocracy up here?” Sans asked. “doesn’t that seem a little… outdated?”

“You have a monarch,” you countered. “And not officially, no. But having a lot of money will… get you a lot of places around here.”

“i get it. money makes the world go ‘round and all that. so... do you have a job, or…?”

“...Once again, not officially,” you said. “I’m… descended from one of the wizards that created the barrier, actually. Magic is pretty much thought to be fictional up here, it’s been out of use for so long; if you want to be technical I’m kind of a guard in case any sort of magical threat were to come up.”

Undyne’s expression darkened a little. “...So what you’re saying is you’re here to keep us in line,” she said.

You shrugged. “That’s the official job description, anyway. I think it’s a bunch of archaic bullcrap, personally.” You saw a flash of surprise and then the hint of a smile come onto Undyne’s face as the door opened slightly, Frisk poking their head out and gesturing for you to come inside. You walked into the room.

Sam looked at you from his chair, clearly frazzled. He cleared his throat. “Um… so. You, um. We looked through the town records? You know, the really old town records. And… your family has some sort of hereditary Guardian position or something? As in, you’re supposed to guard us from magical threats?”

“Yup,” you said. “Your point?” Sam looked at you and gestured to Asgore vaguely. “Magical  _ threats,” _ you said. “I’ve met them and I don’t see any threats. I see some victims of severe prejudice that, despite the crimes our ancestors committed against them, have come here peacefully.”

“Wh— how do you know our ancestors didn’t lock them up for a good reason?” Sam glanced at Asgore and immediately shrank into his chair.

“Because my sister is a historian that has studied this very subject in detail and I trust her opinion and my own eyes better than some cryptic warnings from a bunch of old dead men,” you said. “If and when they prove threatening I will deal with them. But until then they should be treated with dignity and respect. Which I believe would include allowing them into the city and offering them protection until everyone’s grown accustomed to each other.”

“Even… assuming there aren’t any conflicts,” a councilwoman said. She seemed a little more composed than the others. “We can’t facilitate so many new people at once. There’s just no room. Not to mention special considerations that will have to be given to monsters because of their bodies.” She gestured to Asgore’s horns.

“We’ll have to construct new residency areas for them, of course. I never said this needed to happen overnight,” you said.

“And we of course would handle the construction ourselves,” Asgore added.

“You don’t understand. We don’t have the  _ land,”  _ the councilwoman said.

“I do,” you said. “The family and I were just getting ready to sell a very large tract of it on the outer edge of the city. It’ll be slightly crowded but it should be able to accommodate them. If necessary I can purchase more land from the county.”

“This is ridiculous,” another councilman said. “You can’t just—”

“It’s my land and I’ll do whatever I damn well please with it,” you said. “I’m more concerned about their safety while they conduct business in town.”

The councilwoman sighed. “I will… contact the police department.”

“Thank you,” you said. You smiled at Asgore and left the room to let them finish up. You gave Sans a wink. “I’ll get on the paperwork for your new property right away.”

“...huh?”

“I own enough land to give all of you some. You’ll have to give me a list of everyone that’s moving up here so I can divvy out the property.”

“...you’re not serious,” Sans said.

“Sure I am.”

“...i… wow. i’m speechless for once. i mean… how much do we owe you?”

“Just consider it a welcome-to-the-surface gift. My family has more money than I know what to do with anyway,” you said.

“wh... dude. i’m generally pretty lax about this stuff but there’s no way i’m letting you give us all that land for nothing.”

You thought for a moment and shrugged. “Treat me to lunch sometime or something. Anyway, meeting’s pretty much over and I have stuff I need to get done, so.” You tossed him a piece of paper with your phone number on it. “Call me if you need anything.” You left before Sans could get another word in, leaving him and Undyne flabbergasted.


	4. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go out to lunch with Sans.

You really did hate paperwork. It seemed so pointless to you, signing and initialing and signing all over again. It would be way easier if you could just let the monsters build homes on your land and be done with it, but property laws apparently didn’t work that way. So you were left with a mountain of dead tree remains sitting in cluttered piles on your desk as Asgore knocked politely and entered your study.

“Good morning!” he said, eyes closed in a warm smile. His voice lightened your mood a little; deep but soft, regal yet at the same time having what you could only describe as a mild southern drawl. “You said that there was some paperwork you needed me to - oh my.” He stared at the stacks of paper.

“Trust me, I am not fond of this either,” you said, sighing. “Most of these need to be signed by the individual monsters receiving the property. I tried to organize them in a way that would be easy to pass out to them. Anyway, a few things - I had to put in a clause that I’m still allowed on the properties whenever I want. I promise I’m not trying to invade anyone’s privacy, but for complicated legalese reasons it’ll help with the taxes you’re going to have to pay on the land if I’m ‘still using the property.’ Now you said the currency you use is made of gold, correct?”

“Ah, yes,” Asgore said, sitting down. He held out a handful of gold coins. That was one good thing - if humans were going to listen to anything it was going to be money. At least for the adjustment period the monsters would have getting settled on the surface, you weren’t worried too much about them financially.

“Excellent,” you said, handing him a piece of paper. “I wrote out instructions for getting the paperwork finished. Where and what to sign, blah blah blah. Let me know if you have any questions.”

Asgore looked down at the paper and nodded to himself, then looked up and smiled at you. “Thank you. Truly. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined we would find this level of hospitality upon reaching the surface. All of monsterkind is forever in your debt.”

You shook your head. “It’s nothing, really. I’m just glad I can finally put all my family’s useless wealth to good use.”

You both stood up and Asgore walked over to you gingerly. He glanced away a little and opened his arms slightly. “...May I?”

You chuckled. “Of course, Your Majesty.” Asgore gave you a big bear hug and you felt the rest of your bad mood melt away. You hugged him back, smiling to yourself.

“Thank you. Again,” he said, stepping back. “I hope we will talk again soon.”

“Me too, Your Majesty.” You watched him leave and then pulled your phone out of your pocket as it dinged. It was an unknown number.

_ hey this is sans _

_ you free? this is the last day grillbys is open until he relocates, thought id buy you lunch like i promised _

You smiled a little, texting him back.

_ I’d love to! Where should I meet you? I don’t know where Grillby’s is, I’m guessing it’s in the Underground? _

_ yeah its in snowdin, real close to my house. ill just pick you up at your place in a few if thats okay? _

_ Sounds good! _

You barely had the time to stretch your stiff limbs and add Sans’ contact to your phone before the doorbell rang. You opened the door to find the smiling skeleton standing there, in his same blue hoodie, white t-shirt, and black shorts.

“...That was fast,” you said.

“i can get around when i want to,” Sans said, winking. “come on, grillby’s is this way. i know a shortcut.”

You followed a few steps behind him as he headed out into the woods, disappearing behind a tree. You closed your eyes and staggered a little as a wave of mild nausea came over you; when you opened them you were standing in the middle of a small restaurant.

“fast shortcut, huh?” Sans said, taking a seat at the bar. You chuckled and sat down next to him, only to be greeted by the sound of a deflating whoopee cushion. You bit your lip to keep yourself from smiling.

“careful where you sit in here, kid. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats.” Sans looked at you, grinning a little wider than his default expression.

“Silly me,” you said, giving him a playful glare. “I should have been more careful. You never know when a  _ weirdo _ is sitting right next to you.”

You could see Sans’ eyelights sparkle a little and it made your chest warm. “are you implying you sat down on your own whoopee cushion? ‘cause that’s a little weird, kid.”

You shook your head, laughing. “Uh huh, play dumb. Also how old do you think I am,  _ kid?” _

Sans chuckled a little. “habit i guess. does it bother you?”

“Not really,” you said. A bartender made of literal fire walked over to you, waiting expectantly.

“so, whaddaya want? fries or a burger?” Sans asked. 

Didn’t a meal generally come with both? “Uh… burger,” you said. You were actually pretty hungry.

“double order of burg, grillbz,” Sans said. The bartender left and went to a back room and Sans leaned on the counter, propping his head up on one hand and looking at you lazily. “welp, hope this burger is worth free land for an entire race of people. seriously, if you ever actually want something in return let us know. please.”

“Nah,” you said. “A date with a cute monster like you is plenty. Thanks for taking me out.”

Sans’ grin dropped a little. “a... date?”

You chuckled a little. “Oh come on. Me asking a cute guy like you out to lunch and giving you my phone number? I didn’t think my intentions were  _ that _ hidden. You’re funny, you’re really nice… thought I’d try it out. Sorry if I didn’t get that across or something.”

“wh... n-no it’s fine, i just didn’t uh… well i mean…” A light blue glow dusted his cheekbones.

Damn. Getting him flustered was  _ fun. _

“...Sorry. You not swing my way or something?” you asked, although it didn’t feel like that was the case.

Sans gave you a confused look, as if he didn’t know what that phrase meant. He cleared his nonexistent throat and tried to regain his composure. “uh... no, that’s not… a date’s totally fine, i just didn’t realize. i just… haven’t done this in a while, so.”

“Well that’s a damn shame,” you said, the bartender setting your burger in front of you. You took a bite - hot, greasy, flavorful comfort food that literally dissolved as it hit your tongue. It was delicious.

Sans just chuckled and held up a bottle of ketchup. “want some?” You nodded and tipped the ketchup after pulling off the bun; the cap fell off and half the bottle poured out onto your food. “ah shit, sorry,” Sans said, taking the ketchup back. “here, you can have mine.” He moved to switch plates with you and you pulled yours out of his reach.

“Hey, this is still perfectly edible,” you said. You put the ketchup-dripping burger back in your mouth and took another bite. Sans chuckled a little.

“man after my own heart,” he said, chugging down the rest of the bottle. You squinted at him for a second.

“...Can I ask you a weird question?” you said.

“shoot.”

“Why does your mouth open when you eat and not when you talk?”

Sans started laughing, setting the empty bottle back down. “cause i’m lazy. you fleshy types have to do a buncha weird stuff with your lips and tongue to make the sounds you want, right?” You nodded. “well my voice kinda just appears in the back of my skull so all i need is a hole in my face to the sound to come out of.” He pointed to his eyesockets. “i mean if i was  _ really _ lazy i could probably just stuff the burger in my eyesockets but i feel like i’d get a lot of weird looks for that.”

You laughed a little at that image. “Why does Papyrus’ mouth move when he talks then?”

Sans shrugged. “makes other people more comfortable around him, i think. when i first moved to snowdin i could tell some people found it a little creepy that my mouth didn’t move when i was talking. they got over it pretty quick though.”

“The more you know,” you said. “Alright, I got to ask you a weird and potentially offensive question, now it’s your turn.”

“...hm.” Sans thought for a second. “...do you ever get really weird déjà vu? like you’re almost positive you’ve done something before but… you know you haven’t?”

You felt a heaviness settle in your chest. “...Yeah. I guess I have before. Why?”

Sans looked like he wanted to say something more but he immediately hid whatever was on his mind behind a goofy smile. “just curious. i’m not too good at these kinds of getting-to-know-you things.”

You nodded as your phone dinged again. You looked at it and sighed.

“...gotta run?”

“...Yeah. Thank you so much for lunch. This was nice.” You stood up and smiled at him.

Sans stared into your eyes for a moment, looking for something. “...yeah. this was nice. do you uh… wanna do this again sometime?” He glanced away, looking almost confused.

“I’d love to! I’ll let you know when I’m free. See you around, Sans.”

“yeah. see ya.” Sans watched you leave and you felt something strange in the air as you walked out. You’d definitely enjoyed this but… something was off somehow. You couldn’t explain it.

You did know that you wanted to go out with Sans again, though.

_I’d love to! Where should I meet you? I don’t know where Grillby’s is, I’m guessing it’s in the Underground?_

_yeah its in snowdin, real close to my house. ill just pick you up at your place in a few if thats okay?_

_Sounds good!_

You barely had the time to stretch your stiff limbs and add Sans’ contact to your phone before the doorbell rang. You opened the door to find the smiling skeleton standing there, in his same blue hoodie, white t-shirt, and black shorts.

“...That was fast,” you said.

“i can get around when i want to,” Sans said, winking. “come on, grillby’s is this way. i know a shortcut.”

You followed a few steps behind him as he headed out into the woods, disappearing behind a tree. You closed your eyes and staggered a little as a wave of mild nausea came over you; when you opened them you were standing in the middle of a small restaurant.

“fast shortcut, huh?” Sans said, taking a seat at the bar. You chuckled and sat down next to him, only to be greeted by the sound of a deflating whoopee cushion. You bit your lip to keep yourself from smiling.

“careful where you sit in here, kid. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats.” Sans looked at you, grinning a little wider than his default expression.

“Silly me,” you said, giving him a playful glare. “I should have been more careful. You never know when a _weirdo_ is sitting right next to you.”

You could see Sans’ eyelights sparkle a little and it made your chest warm. “are you implying you sat down on your own whoopee cushion? ‘cause that’s a little weird, kid.”

You shook your head, laughing. “Uh huh, play dumb. Also how old do you think I am, _kid?”_

Sans chuckled a little. “habit i guess. does it bother you?”

“Not really,” you said. A bartender made of literal fire walked over to you, waiting expectantly.

“so, whaddaya want? fries or a burger?” Sans asked.

Didn’t a meal generally come with both? “Uh… burger,” you said. You were actually pretty hungry.

“double order of burg, grillbz,” Sans said. The bartender left and went to a back room and Sans leaned on the counter, propping his head up on one hand and looking at you lazily. “welp, hope this burger is worth free land for an entire race of people. seriously, if you ever actually want something in return let us know. please.”

“Nah,” you said. “A date with a cute monster like you is plenty. Thanks for taking me out.”

Sans’ grin dropped a little. “a... date?”

You chuckled a little. “Oh come on. Me asking a cute guy like you out to lunch and giving you my phone number? I didn’t think my intentions were _that_ hidden. You’re funny, you’re really nice… thought I’d try it out. Sorry if I didn’t get that across or something.”

“wh... n-no it’s fine, i just didn’t uh… well i mean…” A light blue glow dusted his cheekbones.

Damn. Getting him flustered was _fun._

“...Sorry. You not swing my way or something?” you asked, although it didn’t feel like that was the case.

Sans gave you a confused look, as if he didn’t know what that phrase meant. He cleared his nonexistent throat and tried to regain his composure. “uh... no, that’s not… a date’s totally fine, i just didn’t realize. i just… haven’t done this in a while, so.”

“Well that’s a damn shame,” you said, the bartender setting your burger in front of you. You took a bite - hot, greasy, flavorful comfort food that literally dissolved as it hit your tongue. It was delicious.

Sans just chuckled and held up a bottle of ketchup. “want some?” You nodded and tipped the ketchup after pulling off the bun; the cap fell off and half the bottle poured out onto your food. “ah shit, sorry,” Sans said, taking the ketchup back. “here, you can have mine.” He moved to switch plates with you and you pulled yours out of his reach.

“Hey, this is still perfectly edible,” you said. You put the ketchup-dripping burger back in your mouth and took another bite. Sans chuckled a little.

“man after my own heart,” he said, chugging down the rest of the bottle. You squinted at him for a second.

“...Can I ask you a weird question?” you said.

“shoot.”

“Why does your mouth open when you eat and not when you talk?”

Sans started laughing, setting the empty bottle back down. “cause i’m lazy. you fleshy types have to do a buncha weird stuff with your lips and tongue to make the sounds you want, right?” You nodded. “well my voice kinda just appears in the back of my skull so all i need is a hole in my face to the sound to come out of.” He pointed to his eyesockets. “i mean if i was _really_ lazy i could probably just stuff the burger in my eyesockets but i feel like i’d get a lot of weird looks for that.”

You laughed a little at that image. “Why does Papyrus’ mouth move when he talks then?”

Sans shrugged. “makes other people more comfortable around him, i think. when i first moved to snowdin i could tell some people found it a little creepy that my mouth didn’t move when i was talking. they got over it pretty quick though.”

“The more you know,” you said. “Alright, I got to ask you a weird and potentially offensive question, now it’s your turn.”

“...hm.” Sans thought for a second. “...do you ever get really weird déjà vu? like you’re almost positive you’ve done something before but… you know you haven’t?”

You felt a heaviness settle in your chest. “...Yeah. I guess I have before. Why?”

Sans looked like he wanted to say something more but he immediately hid whatever was on his mind behind a goofy smile. “just curious. i’m not too good at these kinds of getting-to-know-you things.”

You nodded as your phone dinged again. You looked at it and sighed.

“...gotta run?”

“...Yeah. Thank you so much for lunch. This was nice.” You stood up and smiled at him.

Sans stared into your eyes for a moment, looking for something. “...yeah. this was nice. do you uh… wanna do this again sometime?” He glanced away, looking almost confused.

“I’d love to! I’ll let you know when I’m free. See you around, Sans.”

“yeah. see ya.” Sans watched you leave and you felt something strange in the air as you walked out. You’d definitely enjoyed this but… something was off somehow. You couldn’t explain it.

You did know that you wanted to go out with Sans again, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyy I'm back
> 
> I really did not want to go on hiatus so soon after starting this but I had to get those finals taken care of, yo. Now that it's summer I'm going to try very to update this once a week though, so that's something to look forward to. Thank you for your patience.


	5. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans helps your siblings move in.

Sans sat on his bed, thinking. Everything on the surface felt so… confusing. The crushing sense of déjà vu that always followed him around the Underground had  _ mostly _ lifted upon seeing the light of day for the first time, but it hadn’t disappeared entirely; it only confirmed his suspicions he’d been to the surface before. There went his last shred of hope.

That wasn’t the only thing, though. He was genuinely surprised by how smoothly surface integration was going. Maybe that was just his pessimism talking, but things were moving along so quickly that the whole process almost felt pre-planned.

And then there was Sparks, the monsters’ enigmatic human benefactor. He threw Sans for a complete and utter loop. He was descended from mages, apparently, though that didn’t necessarily mean he had magic. Sans wouldn’t be surprised if he did, though, and that should have been scary because by all accounts human mages were  _ terrifying. _

Except, the first thought that had come to his mind when he’d seen Sparks was  _ damn, he’s hot. _ Which completely caught Sans off guard, because that very rarely happened to him. Physical attraction wasn’t something he felt very often and even when he did it usually wasn’t that… intense. But then Sparks also had to be hilarious and sweet and apparently loved ketchup almost as much as Sans did and the skeleton found himself completely, inexplicably infatuated. It honestly felt scarier than the mage thing, because he’d never felt like this before for  _ anyone. _ Sure, he’d dated before, and he’d grown to care about those people; but he’d never flat-out fallen for someone like this. And how long had it been? A little less than two weeks?

Sans pulled his phone out as it dinged and his soul fluttered a little when he saw it was from Sparks.

_ Hey, sorry it took so long to get back to you, I’ve been super busy. Unfortunately I am still super busy for the foreseeable future, but my siblings are moving in with me temporarily in a few minutes and we could use some help unpacking? I know it’s short notice and hardly a date but I kinda wanted to introduce you guys to them. If not that’s totally fine, just thought I’d let you know. _

Sans smiled a little and texted back immediately.

_ sure thing id love to help out. be there in five? _

_ You’re awesome, thank you. See you soon! _

...Sans had just agreed to do manual labor.  _ Enthusiastically _ agreed. What on earth was wrong with him?

Sans arrived at Sparks’ door just as two cars pulled into the manor driveway. Sparks immediately came outside and wrapped Sans in a quick hug, making magic rush up to the skeleton’s cheekbones much to his dismay.

“Thank you so much for coming on such short notice,” Sparks said, smiling as he pulled away. He looked at the two people emerging from their cars and waved.

The first - Crim, Sans guessed - had a sense of fashion that could make Mettaton jealous, even if it was a touch eccentric. She wore a very wide-brimmed floral hat, large sunglasses, and a long, thin scarf. Her skin was several shades paler than Sparks’ was, her hair worn straight and long down to her hips, and her hands were hidden beneath a pair of elbow-length gloves. She wore an impeccable, long, flower-print sundress with a shawl covering her shoulders and a pair of high heels underneath; she carried herself with an enviable amount of poise and grace. Overall the outfit seemed a bit warm for mid-summer, but Sans couldn’t deny that she looked stunning nonetheless.

The other, who Sans assumed to be Paws, evidently cared far less about his appearance. He wore a pair of sandals, some plain shorts, and a sweaty tank top; he kept his hair short and his skin was a shade or two darker than Sparks’, seemingly from a lot more time outdoors. Almost every inch of his body seemed to be thickly muscled and covered in coarse body hair. Glancing between the three siblings, it was almost difficult to believe they were all related.

“It’s so good to see you guys,” Sparks said, walking up to each of them and giving them long, drawn-out hugs.

“Oh, you too,” Crim said, smiling. She glanced at Sans. “And this must be your new monster friend I’ve heard so much about. It’s a pleasure.” She held out her hand for Sans to shake and he took it. Sans squinted at her slightly, trying to read her expression beneath her scarf and large sunglasses - something felt odd to him. It was like she was intensely curious about him, an unwarranted amount so. He could see the same thing on Paws’ face, much less hidden than on Crim’s.

“...pleasure’s all mine,” Sans said, trying not to tip them off that he was mildly confused and uncomfortable. His déjà vu had just hit him again.

Paws chuckled and walked past Sparks back to his car, smacking his brother on the back and leaning close to his ear. “You were right. He  _ is _ hella cute,” Paws said quietly. It earned him an eye-roll from Sparks and a darker blue blush from Sans.

“Ignore him,” Sparks said, which made Sans blush even harder because that meant Sparks had noticed Sans slowly simmering inside his hoodie. “Wanna help grab some boxes?”

“uh... yeah. sure.” He walked to Crim’s car and Sparks walked to Paws’. He waited until Crim was finished gathering her first load and blinked at the enormous stack of boxes she had in her hands. Surely there was no way she would be able to carry all of those, especially in heels. She proved him wrong, though, walking into the house as gracefully as if she were carrying nothing at all. Not wanting to feel useless, Sans used his blue magic to stack the rest of her luggage in his arms and slowly carried it into the house after everyone else.

Crim took them from him as he entered the living room, setting them down herself. “Thank you, Sans. I really appreciate you helping out.” She gave him a close-lipped smile and Sans smiled back at her.

“no problem. least i could do after everything your brother’s done for us.” Sans glanced down at Crim’s pile of boxes and saw it was mostly filled with old-looking books of various kinds. “you do a lot of reading, huh? i think i heard someone mention you were a historian or something?”

“Mm hm,” Crim said, brushing her hair back behind her ears. “I work with a lot of mythology and folklore, actually. Turns out some of those myths turned out to be not-so-mythical.” She giggled a little.

“She’s probably the only human that has any real grasp on any kind of monster history left up here,” Sparks said, explaining. “She’s unwittingly been studying monsters almost her whole life.”

“Who knew it would come in handy like this, mm?” Crim said.

“yeah. that’s awesome, crim. i’m sure some of the monsters wouldn’t mind giving you a tour of the underground sometime if you’d like some firsthand sources. you should talk to gerson sometime, the guy’s a pretty big history buff himself.”

“That would be absolutely incredible,” Crim said. “I would love that. Thank you.”

“no prob,” Sans said. “so what do you do, paws?”

“I’m a biochemist, technically,” Paws said. “I do a lot of private research. My real house is out in the middle of nowhere, but uh… it’s going under some renovations right now, so.”

“huh. that’s really cool, ” Sans said. “you guys seem like a really interesting family. i’ll have to introduce you to my brother sometime, i bet you’d really like each other.”

“If he’s half as cute as you we’ll get along just fine,” Paws said. Sparks smacked him in the back of the head as Sans glared at him.

“slow your roll there, buddy,” Sans said. “i said i liked you. that doesn’t give you licence to screw around with my brother.”

“I was just joking! I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Paws said. “Don’t hit on skeletons, I got the message.”

“damn straight,” Sans said, slightly less hostile this time. Slightly.

“Besides,” Crim said, sitting down with a sigh and pulling off her shoes. Her toenails were painted crimson and Sans started to see where her nickname came from. “From what I understand your brother called dibs on this one.” She giggled a little and heat rushed up to both Sans and Sparks’ faces.

“It was  _ one _ date, Crim. Don’t make him uncomfortable about it, please,” Sparks said.

Crim put her hands up in apology. “I’m very sorry. I shouldn’t be speaking like that.”

“nah, it’s fine. your brother’s quite the catch himself,” Sans said, completely unwilling to keep being flustered like this. Paws laughed out loud and Crim gave him a mildly threatening older-sibling smile.

“Careful you don’t get  _ too _ cheeky now,” she said, tone pleasant but hiding a warning. Sans knew that tone very well, using it himself all the time, and wasn’t quite as intimidated as he probably should have been.

“can’t be, don’t have any,” Sans said, defiant smirk plastered on his face.

Paws kept laughing. “Right, so that’s why he likes you. You two have the same garbage sense of humor.”

“Hey!” Sans and Sparks both said indignantly. They looked at each other and laughed a little.

“Oh yeah?” Paws said. “Then have you guys  _ b—” _

“Finish that sentence and I swear I will kill you, Paws, brother or not,” Sparks said. Paws just snickered and picked up one of his boxes to bring it to his room.

Sparks shook his head and looked over at Sans with a sigh. “You wanna call Papyrus and invite him over for dinner tonight? I’ll cook again.”

“heh. sure,” Sans said.  _ Having Paps around might help me with all these confusing thoughts _ , Sans thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~I'm late sorry~~
> 
>  
> 
> Honestly my only excuse is that I've been kinda lazy this week. Trying to recuperate from the semester and settle into a good writing schedule.


	6. Mountains and Molehills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner goes awry.

“OH. THAT’S A SHAME,” Papyrus said, sitting down at the table. He’d just been told that dinner had already been made. “NEXT TIME YOU SHOULD TELL ME IN ADVANCE SO I CAN BRING SOME OF MY SPAGHETTI!”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” you chuckled, setting the last of the food down on the table. “I am glad you could come over though, Papyrus. Crim and Paws were really excited to meet you.”

“WELL OF COURSE THEY WERE!” Papyrus said, beaming. “I  _ AM _ THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AFTER ALL, NYEH HEH HEH!” You looked over at Sans to find a genuine smile on his face and it made your chest feel warm.

Paws hadn’t bothered waiting, immediately piling food onto his plate and scarfing it down like it was air. Crim on the other hand sat without a plate, sipping from a thermos she’d brought with her.

“not hungry?” Sans asked her.

“I ate just before I got here. I’ll snack on something later,” Crim said. Sans just shrugged and smothered his plate in ketchup, Papyrus giving him a half-hearted glare.

Paws leaned over towards you, mischievous grin on his face. You gave him the same glare Papyrus had just given his brother, fairly certain you weren’t going to like what he was about to say.

“I gotta say. He is pretty cute,” Paws whispered, nodding at Papyrus. You smacked him on the back of the head, and you could feel Sans immediately start glaring daggers as Paws chuckled. Either Sans had better hearing than a human or just a sixth-sense when it came to people talking about Papyrus.

You almost choked on your food as all the liquid in Paws’ glass suddenly glowed blue and splashed out and all over his face. Sans laughed silently as Paws sat there, dripping. Crim handed him a napkin, covering her mouth to keep herself from giggling.

“Bro, get your boyfriend under control, please,” Paws said, though you could see the amusement in his eyes. Papyrus’ face on the other hand suddenly went blank.

“...WAIT. BOYFRIEND?” His gaze snapped to Sans and you could see him immediately tense up. “WH— YOU— HIM—”

“It was a joke! Paws was joking,” you said, this time with a much more serious glare. Most of Sans’ skull had gone blue.

“...n-no, um…” Sans sighed, looking at Papyrus. “we went on one date, okay? that’s all it was.”

“...AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!?!?!?!?!” You and everyone else at the table winced at his volume.

“no because i didn’t want you to make a big deal abo—”

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?! YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE MY DATING HANDBOOK! HOW ELSE WOULD YOU FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS?”

“papyrus i don’t think—”

“DID YOU PRESS THE [C] KEY ON YOUR KEYBOARD FOR THE DATING HUD?”

“...what does that even mean???”

“DID YOU ASK HIM ON A DATE?”

“no, he asked me.”

Papyrus sighed in exasperation. “OH MY GOD, YOU’RE HOPELESS! SPARKS I’M SO SORRY FOR MY BROTHER’S BEHAVIOR. HE’S REALLY VERY NICE, I PROMISE!”

“hey! i’m sitting right here!”

“Papyrus,” you said, trying to reign in the situation. “I… appreciate your… concern. But it was just one date, it’s not that big of a deal. And for your information it was very nice, I had a good time.”

“WAS HE AT LEAST WEARING NICE CLOTHES?”

“...Yup. Button-down shirt and everything. Very classy.” Sans relaxed a little, giving you a grateful glance.

“HMMM. MAYBE IT WASN’T A  _ COMPLETE  _ TRAIN WRECK THEN,” Papyrus said. He turned back to Sans. “DO YOU HAVE A RING PICKED OUT AT LEAST?”

You once again choked on your drink as everyone stared at Papyrus. “whoa, whoa, whoa! ring?”

“YES, RING! FOR WHEN YOU PROPOSE!”

“...paps you don’t propose after one date.”

“BUT SPARKS SAID HE ENJOYED THE DATE! AREN’T YOU IN LOVE WITH HIM?”

“not after one date! that’s not how it works!”

“...WAIT. YOU’RE SAYING… YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE AFTER THE DATE’S OVER?”

Sans put his face in his hands. “god, paps, no. it’s… dating’s complicated. you can’t boil it down into a handbook. tips and tricks maybe but it’s… ugh. can we just… enjoy dinner please?”

You ate the rest of the meal in relative silence, the air tense. Paws was avoiding eye contact with you and Papyrus and Sans had gone uncharacteristically quiet, which left you and Crim to try and make some sort of conversation. You weren’t all that successful.

“WELL… THANK YOU FOR DINNER!” Papyrus said. You could see him wringing his hands in his lap.

“My pleasure,” you said, smiling. “It really is nice to have you over, Papyrus. You’re welcome here any time.”

Papyrus nodded. “WELL, BROTHER? SHALL WE GO?”

“...yeah. let’s go.”

“I’ll walk you off the grounds then,” you said, standing up.

“OH, I’LL GO AHEAD. I’M SURE YOU’D LIKE SOME ALONE TIME WITH SANS!” Before you could stop him he fled from the house, and Crim and Paws quickly exited to their rooms. You sighed and walked with Sans outside.

“I am so, so sorry,” you said. “I never meant for this to blow itself out of proportion like it did. Paws isn’t going to mention it again, I swear.”

“it’s fine. really. paps tends to make mountains out of molehills. and that’s… ugh. kinda my fault.”

You nodded a little. “He… has some interesting ideas about relationships,” you said.

“i know,” Sans sighed. “i haven’t even had the talk with him yet. it’s really bad. i have it stuck in my head that he’s still my little kid brother and he’s not anymore. he’s a grown adult, and i need to wrap my head around that. i can’t keep him sheltered from everything forever, i just… keep dreading the day he’s going to go out into the world and keep pretending that it won’t come. but if he gets out there and can’t function as an adult that’s going to be on me. i gotta have a talk with him. a long, long talk.”

You nodded. “...You really are a good brother though, Sans. It’s easy to see how much you love him.”

Sans chuckled a little. “just don’t go spreading that rumor around, eh? i’d never hear the end of it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” you said, smiling. You glanced down at your hand and noticed it was entangled with Sans’. You felt your face run hot.

Sans looked down as well and immediately yanked his hand away. “s-sorry. sorry, sorry, i didn’t even notice.”

“I… I didn’t really mind,” you said quietly.

That weird confused expression came over Sans’ face, almost like he was in a daze. “i... uh… heh. we still on for that second date whenever you’re free?”

You nodded. “Yeah.”

“...good. that’s good. i’ll... i’ll see you around, sparks.” Sans walked through the front door of his new house - the magic-aided construction had been incredibly fast - and you turned around to walk home. Ugh, what a mess of a night. Though all things considered you supposed it wasn’t that bad. Paws was waiting for you on the porch.

“Hey,” he said, a look of genuine concern on his face. “Are you okay? Are you and him okay? Dude I am so, so sorry. I was just joking around, I didn’t mean for things to get so weird, I just…”

“It’s fine, everything’s fine,” you said, giving him a tired smile. “Really. Weird stuff happens sometimes, it’s okay.”

“...If you say so,” Paws sighed. “I really am sorry though, I won’t say anything about it anymore. I’m really glad you’re at least trying something out. I just… you work so hard all the time and Crim and I worry about you, you know? It’s good for you to have someone. Really. I’d feel like shit if I screwed this up for you.”

“Well you didn’t, so it’s fine,” you reassured him.

“Okay. Okay, okay,” he said, relieved.

You opened your arms for a hug. “Get over here you asshole.” 

He hugged you tightly and your back popped. “Yeah, I am an asshole. Still love ya though.”

“You too. Now can you say that again so I can get it on tape?”

Paws laughed and punched you in the shoulder, walking back inside. You were done for the day. Time to throw on a movie and lay around on the couch while you tried to process everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleh, I'm sorry about being so late. Don't really have an excuse, just having a smidge of writer's block and a little lack of motivation to write. Hopefully next update will be on time though.


	7. Lunch, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Sans go get some Nice Cream.

You answered a knock at your door to find Sans there, holding a small bouquet of flowers and wearing a mildly sheepish grin. He held the bouquet out to you.

“Aw, you shouldn’t have. Thank you,” you said, taking them and giving them a sniff. They had a mild, sweet fragrance to them.

“papyrus insisted,” Sans said.

“So… did everything go alright with him?”

“uh… yeah,” Sans said, rubbing the back of his neck. “not a fun conversation, but. it needed to happen. honestly i feel a lot better now. felt like i’ve been hiding something for years or something. anyway, uh… you busy?”

“...Not for a little while, no,” you said.

“good. i was wondering if you wanted to go… i dunno. get ice cream maybe?”

You smiled a little. “I’d love to.” You set the bouquet down on the table gently and offered him your hand, which he took. 

“i know this guy with an ice cream stand from the underground, figured we might try to give him some business,” Sans said, walking towards the city proper. You gave him a nod, taking a second to enjoy the fresh air. You’d been in your basement working all morning.

You received more than a few weird looks and obscene gestures as you walked with Sans down the street, and you wished you could say it was surprising. You were no stranger to homophobia or human bigotry in general, and even without all that most people in Ebott at least knew about you and had no doubt heard plenty of rumors that you were insane or a serial killer or whatever other nonsense they could come up with. Not to mention that your date was also a monster. Today, luckily, they just seemed to want to keep their distance and not actually harass you. Still, you kept Sans at your side next to the buildings and away from passerby, just in case.

“...you must be really uncomfortable right now, i’m sorry,” Sans said, glancing down at your entwined hands.

“All these people can go fuck themselves,” you said, rolling your eyes. “Don’t worry about that. I could care less what they think.”

“well i figured you had a thicker skin than that,” Sans chuckled. “i meant physically. me being made of bone and all that.” He gestured to his hand again.

“Oh,” you said. “It’s fine, Sans, really.” Sure it felt a little like you were holding hands with a mannequin, but the company was a little more important to you than that.

“nah, just give me a sec,” Sans said, closing his eyes for a second. You felt the bones of his hand, cool and smooth against your skin, slowly warm up and… soften somehow. It felt like a gentler version of two magnets repelling each other, a cushion of force so to speak. You looked down to see a barely-visible telekinetic glow coming off of his bones. It was an inventive, and decently accurate, imitation of human flesh.

“that a little better?” Sans asked you.

“Yeah, actually,” you said. “You really didn’t have to, though.”

Sans shrugged. “monsters are all so different from each other, we gotta do this sort of thing all the time. you know grillby, the bartender we met last time? imagine holding hands with him if he didn’t cool off a little first.”

“...Fair point,” you said. “The more you know.”

“so. if there’s anything else you want me to do tell me now before i settle into it.”

“Nah. This is really nice,” you said. “What do you mean by settle though?”

“the whole body-morphing thing kinda becomes instinctual after a little while. your body’ll kinda just react to certain people being around. and it’s a lot of work to try and change the habit once its set.”

“Gotcha,” you said with a chuckle. “I’m learning so much already.”

“anyway,” Sans said, “here we are. one nice cream stand as promised.”

“Nice cream?”

You looked at the vendor - he was a blue, humanoid rabbit - and he immediately perked up. His cheerful smile didn’t look fake per se, more like the kind of smile someone wore when they’d been having a shitty day and were trying to be happy in spite of it. You smiled back, hoping you’d be able to make him feel at least a little better.

“Hiya, folks!” The vendor said. “Could I interest you in some Nice Cream? It’s the frozen treat that warms your heart! Only 20 G. Or, uh, $3.50.”

“I’d love some,” you said. “Hm. I’ll take… that one.” You pointed to your favorite from the list of 21 different flavors.

“gimme a dreamsicle,” Sans said, putting a stack of coins on the counter. You pulled a few dollar bills out of your pocket and did the same.

“Coming right up!” The vendor reached down into his cart and pulled out what appeared to be two hand-wrapped ice cream sandwiches. “Here you go! Have a super-duper day!”

You smiled and waved at him as you left and sat down on a bench next to Sans, unwrapping your sandwich. Something was hand-written on the inside.

_ Love yourself! I love you!  _ the wrapper said. You smiled, glancing at Sans’. He snorted, holding the wrapper up for you to see.  _ Are those claws natural? _

You giggled a little and took a bite. It was amazing - most certainly hand-made - and once again melted as soon as it hit your tongue, dissolving into a rush of energy that literally warmed your chest. Monster food was amazing. You laced your fingers back through Sans’, sighing happily.

“Thanks for this. I needed a little break,” you said, taking another bite.

“no problem,” Sans said. You saw that confused expression come over him again, like he was waking up from a dream or something. He looked sort of dazed, almost nervous. He glanced at his slippers. “needed uh… needed a break from what?”

“...I’m just doing some research right now,” you said. “Been in my basement all day.”

“research. right. research.”

You waited for him to ask what kind of research, but he just dropped it entirely. You looked him over, worried he was about to pass out or something.

“Hey. You okay?”

Sans blinked a little and shook his head as if to clear it. “huh? oh, yeah, i’m fine. a little lightheaded, i guess. must have low blood sugar or something, i really needed this nice cream.”

“...Low blood sugar?” you asked, not buying it. Sans just shrugged, leaning against you a little with that dazed expression on his face still. You wrapped an arm around his shoulders gently and whatever had come over him passed quickly.

“something like that,” he answered, shrugging a little and then realizing your arm was around him.

“Sorry. Too much?”

“no, no, it’s fine. you’re pretty comfy,” Sans said, relaxing a little. You could feel his warmth through his jacket.

You nodded slowly, finishing off your Nice Cream and rubbing his shoulder in slow circles. He laid his head back against your arm, looking contemplative rather than confused.

“...You wanna go for a walk or something? There’s an old forest trail that runs by my house. It’s really pretty,” you offered.

“sure,” Sans said, standing up slowly and putting his hand back in yours. You smiled and led him out of the city, refusing to let all the dirty looks you were getting spoil your good mood.

“...we got a forest down where i live too,” Sans said, looking around at the green summer trees. “s’always covered in snow, though.”

“Really? How did you get snow underground?” you asked.

Sans shrugged. “i’m a physicist, not a meteorologist. couldn’t tell you.”

“Wait - really?” That was new information.

“used to be anyway. the royal science department kinda… collapsed a long time ago. m’a little rusty. been a sentry for years now.”

“Wow, that’s… what happened?”

“...s’a long story,” Sans said. You sensed he wasn’t in the mood for you to pry, so you dropped it.

“I’m… sort of a scientist myself,” you said. Sans looked at you and his eyes seemed to glitter a little.

“no kidding?”

“I mean. Not professionally or anything. I mostly just help Paws out with his alchemy projects. Most people write it off as some sort of archaic pseudo-science but when there’s actual magic involved it’s a real thing.”

“i mean we just call it chemistry but you humans are really weird about magic sometimes,” Sans said. “isn’t it weird how they just want to pretend half the laws of physics don’t exist sometimes? like, magic is a fundamental part of how the universe operates. i’m made of it. i don’t get how so many humans don’t believe it exists.”

“Don’t get me started. You haven’t been introduced to the whole climate change debacle and how many people like to ignore science there,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“well you’ll have to fill me in sometime,” Sans said, smiling. He glanced toward your house, just visible through the trees. You sighed to yourself and he looked at you. “gotta get back to work?”

“Yeah,” you said. “Sorry.”

“don’t be. this was nice,” Sans said. “i’ll see you next time.”

“Yeah. See you next time.” You gave his hand one last squeeze and walked back home, filling a vase with water and putting Sans’ bouquet inside. You sighed happily before going back down the stairs.


	8. Sinking Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans is having trouble sleeping.

Sans threw his blankets off in frustration, rubbing his tired eyesockets. No sleep again; which in and of itself wasn’t all that unusual. Lately, though, it hadn’t been the crushing sense of hopelessness mixed with nauseating déjà vu, but some sort of anxiety. Paranoia.

The worst part was he couldn’t even figure out what he was worried  _ about. _ There was just some vague sense of dread gnawing at the inside of his ribcage and he couldn’t think about anything else long enough to actually fall asleep.

_ I bet Sparks would help me fall asleep, _ Sans’ sleep-deprived mind thought.  _ He’s so soft and cuddly. _

...And there  _ those _ thoughts came again. Maybe he was just going crazy. Maybe he’d always been crazy.

No, no, that wasn’t it. He’d seen all the time-anomaly data and it was crystal clear. Maybe last time around something bad had happened up here and his body was trying to warn him by keeping him up all night.

That wasn’t really a comforting thought either.

Sparks. Sparks had a way of calming Sans down, as confusing as he was. He needed to do  _ something _ or he was going to drop dead from exhaustion.

Sans teleported and knocked on Sparks’ front door frantically before realizing the sun was only just beginning to rise. He probably wouldn’t even be awake. God, he was so stupid, he just needed to go back home and deal with his own—

“Sans?”

It wasn’t Sparks that answered, but Paws. He was shirtless, only wearing a ragged-looking pair of basketball shorts; Sans would have thought he’d just rolled out of bed and grabbed the nearest piece of dirty laundry like Sans so often did, except he looked completely alert and awake.

“Hey. Eyes are up here,” Paws chuckled. Sans blinked, shaking himself from his thoughts and stuffing his now-twitching hands in his pockets.

“s-sorry,” Sans said. “i really wasn’t—”

“Dude I was messing with you, chill,” he said. “You wanna come in?”

Sans nodded and walked inside, looking around. The lights were all off, except for the one leading to the basement. Sans stared at it. What was Sparks doing down there so early?

_...Why are there restraints on that table? _

_ Merely a precaution, I assure you. The procedure is entirely safe. _

_ Then why are we doing it on the lowest subfloor of the lab in the middle of the night when no one else is around? _

_ We don’t want anyone divulging our discoveries before we’re ready, of course. _

_ I… I think I changed my mind, G. I don’t think I want to— _

_ Sans. You… do remember who got you into the Royal Science division in the first place, don’t you? _

_ Y… Yeah… _

_ And you DO remember the debt you owe me for that? _

_ I… _

_ It would be a shame for such a promising young career to be terminated so early. Now - let us continue with our experiment. _

“...Anyway I really, really am sorry and I swear nothing like that will ever happen again. ...Sans? Hey, Sans, are you okay?”

Sans became vaguely aware of the sound of his own bones rattling together. “h-huh? oh, yeah, i’m fine,” he said. “i just uh… haven’t been able to sleep so i’m a little out of it.”

“Ohhhhhh,” Paws said, something in his tone changing. “Need someone to cuddle with to help you sleep, is that it?”

“wh— no! i just—”

“Don’t worry tiger, it’ll be our secret,” Paws said, winking. “I’ll go grab him for you.” Paws walked down the basement stairs and Sans sat on the couch, holding his head in his hands.

Those memories hadn’t come up in a long, long time. He’d get flashes of them occasionally, but they’d trickled to a stop ever since the unending waves of déjà vu supplanted them. Why were they coming back now of all times?

“Sans?” Sparks walked out of the basement, a look of concern on his face. “Are you okay?”

“yeah, i’m fine. sorry, i don’t even know why i came over, i just haven’t been able to sleep and i guess maybe i’m a little delirious.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Sparks said. “Anything I can do to help?”

“...nah,” Sans said, glancing back at the basement. What were they all doing down there? It really wasn’t any of Sans’ business but for some reason it was gnawing at him. He forced himself to look away. “sorry for bothering you. i’ll just go.”

“Now hold on just a second, you just got here. Can I get you something? Some warm milk, maybe? That always helps me.”

“...sure, i guess,” Sans said. Milk was good. Papyrus was always on his ass about not drinking enough of it.

Sparks stood up and walked into the kitchen, leaving Sans alone with his thoughts. What was wrong with him? Maybe he really was losing his mind.

Not that it would really matter.

“Here you go,” Sparks said, putting a warm glass into Sans’ hand. Sans took a sip, distracted, before smiling a little. Cinnamon.

“how’d you know?” Sans asked, feeling his chest warm up slowly from the drink.

“Lucky guess,” Sparks shrugged, squeezing Sans’ hand lightly.

Sans took another drink and found himself leaning into Sparks’ warmth. The human wrapped an arm around his shoulders and Sans hummed softly. That really  _ had _ done the trick. He didn’t know if he’d be able to stay awake long enough to get back home.

_ This didn’t feel right. It felt very wrong, in fact. He fought to stay awake against the anesthetic but he was quickly losing that battle. The restraints were rough against his bones. He felt his fight-or-flight response kick in and he tried to teleport away, but something inside the restraints stopped him. He tried tugging against them weakly, but he didn’t know if he’d made any ground before he fell unconscious. _

Sparks snatched the glass out of his hand as Sans choked on the milk, coughing violently and doubling over. He gasped for air, fully awake again.

“How does that even work?” Sparks said with a half-confused-half-worried chuckle.

Sans leaned back against the couch and Sparks’ arm, covering his face with his hands. “i dunno. s’a reflex or something.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sparks asked.

“yeah. really. i’m fine, i promise. it was just that thing where you… you know, jolt or something right as you’re falling asleep. i guess.” He eyed the glass of milk again and Sparks handed it to him reluctantly.

“If you say so,” he said.

Sans finished off the rest of the milk - he didn’t want to have another coughing fit - and tried to relax again. Even if he did fall asleep, he was worried he’d be plagued by nightmares.

This milk stuff was a miracle worker, it seemed, because Sans immediately started to nod off again. He made a point of facing away from the basement door, causing his head to lay against Sparks’ chest. It felt like both of Sparks’ arms were around him now, his jacket surrounded by warm skin. A few seconds later he was snoring softly.

* * *

 

You couldn’t help but smile a little at the sleeping figure in your arms, though you were definitely concerned. If you didn’t know better you would think Sans was starting to unravel.

You picked him up princess-style - he was easy to carry, barely weighing thirty pounds - and carried him out the door toward his house. Papyrus was on the front porch, looking around quizzically.

“THERE HE IS!” Papyrus sighed. You covered the sides of Sans’ head, though he didn’t seem to stir. “ASLEEP AGAIN? REALLY?!”

“Hey, keep your voice down,” you said. “He just fell asleep.”

“WELL WAKE HIM UP THEN,” Papyrus said. “HE’S ALWAYS SLEEPING! IT’S ALREADY SIX IN THE MORNING, THAT’S PLENTY LONG ENOUGH TO SLEEP IN!”

“He hasn’t slept at all tonight, Papyrus,” you said, getting a little annoyed. Sans still didn’t wake up.

“...NOT AT ALL?”

“No.”

“WELL… THAT IS A PROBLEM. FINE, FINE, I’LL LET HIM SLEEP. LET’S GET HIM INTO AN ACTUAL BED.”

“Could you please lower your voice a little?” you said. “He’s gonna wake up again at this rate.”

“MY BROTHER COULD SLEEP THROUGH A HURRICANE,” Papyrus said. “NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT! NOW, HERE’S HIS - REALLY?! OF  _ COURSE  _ HIS BED ISN’T MADE. UGH, FINE. HE CAN USE MINE.” He opened the door to his room and gestured to the racecar bed along the wall.

“...Cool room,” you said, laying Sans down gently and draping the blanket over him. He remained asleep.

“REALLY?! THANK YOU! I’M VERY PROUD OF IT! WOULD YOU LIKE A TOUR?”

“Maybe some other time,” you said. “We should probably let Sans sleep.”

“OH, ALRIGHT. ...THANK YOU FOR BRINGING HIM HOME, BY THE WAY. I WAS GETTING WORRIED,” Papyrus said, closing the door.

“Not a problem,” you said.

“WHY WAS HE AT YOUR HOUSE ANYWAY?” Papyrus said. “DID YOU HAVE A... SLEEPOVER?”

“No, nothing like that,” you said. “He just came over a little while ago and was wondering if I had any sleep medicine.”

“OH, OKAY,” Papyrus said. He played with his scarf a little. “WELL, I WILL… SEE YOU AROUND, SPARKS. MAYBE WE CAN HAVE DINNER AGAIN SOON!”

“I’d love to,” you said, walking out the door. “Bye, Papyrus.”

Welp. That was an interesting way to start a day on no sleep.


	9. Fidgety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren't going as well with Sans as you'd hoped.

“Hey,” you said, waving your hand in front of Sans’ face for the fiftieth time today. “You still with me?”

“hm? y-yeah, yeah, i’m fine. sorry i’m uh… just focused on the game.”

“...You just walked off a cliff,” you said, looking at the screen. You’d invited Sans over to hang out today since you were worried about how out of it he’d been recently and thought that some video games would be a good way to chill, but it didn’t appear to be working.

“...that… was on purpose,” Sans said, giving you a cheesy grin.

“Uh huh.”

“sorry, i’m just bad at these things. it’s still fun though.” He shrugged and you once again found yourself wondering if you should try to push for more information. Despite his goofy facade it was easy to see there was a lot going on beneath the surface with him. You didn’t want to pry but you were starting to get seriously concerned about his health.

“Hey Sans,” you said, pausing the game. “Are you sure nothing’s bothering you?”

“nothing never bothers me, it’s my favorite thing to do,” Sans said. A chuckle slipped out of your mouth despite your efforts not to laugh. It lent a little bit of realness to Sans’ smile, so you were grateful for that at least.

“You know what I meant, though. You’ve been really distracted recently, and especially today. I just wanted to be sure everything’s alright.”

“nah, i’m fine,” Sans said. “you’re just distracting is all. i mean just look at you.” He gave you a flirtatious wink and you felt a little blood rushing up to your face.

“Sans I’m being serious,” you said, looking away a little.

“...what, don’t you trust me?” Sans said, a little quietly.

“Of course I do,” you said, worried that you’d pushed to hard. “I’m just… worried is all.”

You heard a low rumble of thunder outside and Sans immediately turned to the window. “was that… was that thunder?”

“...Yeah,” you said, a little annoyed by the subject change but trying not to think about it. “I guess you haven’t seen a real storm since coming up here, huh?”

“...nope,” Sans said, getting up and staring outside. Your mood softened a little seeing the genuine curiosity sparkling in his eyes. It was a side of him you didn’t get to see often, but you couldn’t help but feel lucky when you did. “...it’s the static from all the water droplets in the air rubbing against each other, right? it builds up and then discharges to the grWOAH.”

An arc of lightning split the sky outside your window and Sans jolted a little - but the smile on his face grew wider still. The downpour began in earnest, the raindrops pounding on the roof rhythmically.

“...It must be strange to have weather that isn’t the same every day,” you said, content just to watch him watch the storm.

“...huh? oh. yeah, i… guess it is.” He turned back to look at you and it looked like he was actually ‘there’ for the first time today. He blinked a little, as if he’d just remembered something. “...is that what you have down in the basement? some kinda lab setup for your brother’s research?”

“Some of it is, yeah,” you said. You looked back at the game. “Crim keeps a lot of her research materials down there, too. And that’s also where Paws dumps most of his workout gear— it’s all a giant mess to be honest.”

“tsk, tsk. you should keep a clean lab space,” Sans said. “not that i can judge. when i was still a scientist my workbench was a safety hazard all by itself.” You both laughed a little, and then Sans glanced back at the basement door and it was like he was gone again. You chewed on your lip a little.

“So… what exactly did you do when you were still in the lab?” You asked. You were starting to pick up that he had some weird fixation with your basement door and it was starting to make you uncomfortable.

“...hm?” His eyes flicked back to you and you repeated the question for him. “oh. i was the lab’s quantum physics specialist. i worked under the royal scientist on a couple engineering projects.”

“Wait… you worked for Alphys?” you asked. Admittedly you didn’t know the skittish lizard-monster very well, but it didn’t seem like she was the type of person that would be leading a whole scientific team.

“no, no,” Sans said. “she was just a regular engineer back then. a really smart one, though. there’s a reason she’s the royal scientist now.”

“I’m sure,” you said. “So how long has she been the Royal Scientist then?”

“...not too long. a few years, i guess?” You could see Sans’ fingers digging into the fabric of his jacket as if he was making sure it was there. It didn’t seem like your questions were helping all that much, but… your curiosity was getting the better of you.

“So… you mentioned that the royal science division fell apart or something? Is that when you quit?”

“you… could say that,” Sans said. There was a tension in his posture now, like he was waiting for a jumpscare while watching a horror movie. You cursed at yourself internally, aggravated with yourself for pushing too far. Time for a subject change.

“Anyway, uh… there’s this amazing planetarium in the next city over? I should take you sometime. I bet you’d find it really interesting,” you said.

“...yeah. that… would be nice, i bet,” he said. The air in the room was still and heavy around you; why was it all going like this? Everything just felt so…

Off.

“Well, uh… it’s starting to get kinda late. You wanna stay for dinner? It won’t take too long, I promise.”

“nah, paps’ll be upset if i’m not home for his cooking tonight,” Sans said. “i think we should just call it a day. it was fun though.”

“Yup,” you said, swallowing your disappointment. Against your better judgement, you decided to take one last shot at getting him to tell you what was eating at him. “If you ever want to talk about something… I’ll be here.”

Sans’ fingers clacked on the doorknob, hesitating. He stood there staring at the blank surface of the door for an uncomfortably long moment. Then he turned to look at you, and you felt something sink in your chest.

“can i uh… be honest with you for a sec?”

“Of course,” you said.

“i… don’t really think this is working,” he said.

“What do you mean?” you said, asking a question you already knew the answer to.

“this. us,” he said, gesturing between you and him vaguely. “i’m sorry. you really are a nice guy and i really am grateful for everything you’ve done for us, but… i’m just not good at the whole dating thing. i don’t know what i’m doing here, i don’t—” He cut himself off with a sigh and you swallowed the lump in your throat.

“...It’s… It’s fine,” you said. “I’d… be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but… what can a guy do?” You gave him a painfully fake smile and he gave you an apathetically fake one back.

“...thanks for being cool about it,” he said, his voice having difficulty piercing the heavy air. “we live pretty close so… i’ll see you around.”

You waited for the door to close behind him before releasing the shaky breath trapped in your chest. You sat down, unsuccessfully fighting back the hot tears pricking up under your eyelids.

God _ dammit. _

What was wrong with you? Pushing him like that? You could feel your nails digging into your scalp in frustration as you tried not to start crying in earnest. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It definitely was  _ not _ supposed to happen like this. That’s what you got for becoming complacent.

It felt like you’d been stabbed. If Sans were still here he’d probably have been weirded out by just how upset you were - he hadn’t been dating you for that long, after all - but he didn’t know what you knew. Damn everything, why hadn’t you been more careful?

The worst part was, you still didn’t  _ really _ know what had gone wrong. Yeah, you pushing him to tell you things he didn’t want to talk about like a complete idiot was completely on you, but that didn’t explain the bizarre haze Sans had been under all this time. You couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something seriously wrong.

...Not that it mattered now. You stood up and wiped your eyes angrily before stomping down the stairs, hoping you would be able to get yourself under control before either of your siblings found you and asked what happened.

You shouldn’t have gotten distracted in the first place. There was work to be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~It's been a hot minute since I updated this ahahaha~~
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry guys, I've been adjusting to being back in college and have only recently figured out a way to give myself some writing time. Anyway, chapter's here now, right?


	10. Corner Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans isn't having a good day.

Sans whimpered a little as the sun drifted through his blinds, not sitting up yet but slowly untangling his sweat-soaked sheets from his bare ribs. He waved his hand and flipped the blinds shut, hoping the giant glowing sky-ball would leave him alone for a few more hours. It would have been funny how much he wanted the sun to go away with how long the monsters had been waiting to see it if he hadn’t been so fucking exhausted.

His body felt sticky and disgusting - skeletons didn’t need as much bodily maintenance as a lot of other monsters but he’d still gone way too long without a shower to be considered healthy. The air in his room was stale and humid, and it was quiet enough that he was hyper-aware of every scrape and clack his bones made over the low droning of his trash tornado.

Break-ups were awful.

And the stupid part was that  _ Sans _ had broken up with  _ Sparks _ , not the other way around. If Sans was honest, it was for no real reason, too. The implications of the hurt he’d seen flash through Sparks’ eyes started to sink in and Sans sank even further into his pillows. Sparks was probably the only reason the monsters were currently enjoying the relative safety and prosperity they now had, and now Sans had jeopardized that by upsetting him. And over what? Because he’d been feeling out of it the last couple weeks? What was  _ wrong _ with him?

Sans pressed the heels of his hands into his bony eyelids, taking a deep breath. That last part was silly - Sparks wasn’t that petty. Though, Sans hadn’t really known the human long enough to know that for certain; but he was inexplicably sure of himself on that point. More unexplained feelings. Great.

That’s what all of this was, he realized - his feelings had brewed into a violent maelstrom and he’d lost all control of them. He had no clue what to do at this point; it felt like he’d been drowning in apathy for years and now he was feeling so many things all at once - and so intensely - that he was surprised he hadn’t just evaporated into thin air yet.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the intrusive memories of you-know-who that had decided to reappear all of a sudden.

The worst part was that he had no idea where  _ any  _ of it was coming from. He’d been through the time-loop ringer so many times that he’d thought he’d lost all ability to feel, but whenever he was around Sparks he got a splitting headache from just how  _ much _ he felt. The only explanation that made any sense was that Sans and Sparks had been a couple before, in a previous reset. Which made dating him all the more fucking pointless because eventually time would loop again and Sans would be back to square one for the umpteenth time.

Pointless. It was all pointless, and Sans knew it. So why did he care so much?

Sighing to himself, he dragged himself out of bed and grabbed a few pieces of dirty laundry before heading to the shower. There was only so much of his wallowing Papyrus would tolerate, and if Sans let himself go for to long Papyrus would worry and get nosy. The last thing Sans wanted to do was worry his brother or have to try and articulate feelings to him that he couldn’t even begin to understand himself.

The warm water running across his bones actually felt pretty nice. He grabbed a sponge and started scrubbing all the dried sweat off himself, though he couldn’t be bothered to mess with the fluoride. He contemplated trying to fall asleep in the bathtub, but decided against it. He really needed to go outside today and make sure everyone knew he hadn’t just dropped off the face of the earth.

He dried himself off and put on his dirty clothes, walking outside into the sunlight. It was bright today. Painfully so, if fact. He hadn’t had an issue with his eyes being unable to adjust before, but now it was like the light was washing out everything around him. He squinted, trying to block out the glare, but it didn’t help. His mind hazed over, unable to focus, and his feet started carrying him somewhere he had no control over.

In his confused daze Sans walked right into something, his face smacking against the hard surface with a resounding  _ thud. _ He stumbled back a few steps, trying to find some sense of orientation.

“...Sans?”

Sans looked up at the familiar voice to see Sparks standing there, in an undershirt and a pair of boxers. Sans shook his head a little, trying to focus. Sparks was a little worse for wear himself judging by his disheveled appearance - wrinkled clothes, tired eyes, and a serious case of bedhead. Usually most people were ready before midday. Was it midday? Sans’ sense of time had been cut to ribbons forever ago, so he didn’t even bother hazarding a guess.

“...Is everything okay?” Sparks asked. Sans blinked a little.

Shit. He’d just walked face-first into Sparks’ front door.

“u-uh… yeah,” Sans said. Now what was he supposed to do?

“Can I… help you with something?”

“no, i… just. came to uh.” Sans struggled to find something,  _ anything  _ to say that would make a lick of sense. But now the vortex of emotions had come back, compounding with the pervasive haze of confusion, and it felt like he’d lost all contact with reality. He closed his eyes, overwhelmed by too many sensations all at once.

Sans felt a warm hand on his shoulder through his jacket as his sense of balance suddenly collapsed and his magic immediately reacted, warming up to match. Usually it took a little more time to form that kind of habit, but Sans barely had to think about it at all.

...Sparks’ lips were soft. And warm. Sans could feel his warm breath on his skull. He didn’t even notice that the confusion quickly faded out, replaced by simple, warm contentment. He stepped back and opened his eyes, blinking like a rebooted computer.

“...oh my god i’m so sorry,” Sans said, realizing that he’d just  _ kissed  _ Sparks out of nowhere. “i don’t— i didn’t—”

“I-It’s fine!” Sparks said, and Sans could make out the nearly desperate joy in his voice. “I… I didn’t… mind. I just thought that you… you know… didn’t want to…?”

“i’m sorry about last time,” Sans said, doubly embarrassed now that some sense of clarity had returned to him. “i don’t— i don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. i’m sorry. i’m sorry i broke up with you, i’m sorry i just  _ kissed  _ you i mean i seriously have no idea where the hell that came—”

“It’s— It’s okay. Really. You don’t… have to make such a big deal about it,” Sparks said.

“i do though. i’m not—” He sighed, the daze starting to creep back in. Sans was starting to completely unravel and he knew it, but he had no idea what to do about it.

“Hey,” Sparks said, grabbing Sans’ wrist. It forced the daze out for a moment, and Sans almost went to grab Sparks’ hand as the human retracted his arm self-consciously. “Clearly you’re going through something right now, I get it. I just… want to let you know its okay to talk to me. Or Papyrus, or anyone really. I just got worried about you, but that’s none of my business unless you want to share, so. If you need me I’ll be there, alright? Whatever you need.”

Sans almost laughed. He couldn’t talk about this. There was no way to explain his feelings when he couldn’t even begin to understand them. He wouldn’t burden anyone else with knowing about time-loop hell. He was stuck like this, whether he wanted to be or not.

But one thing was a little clearer now; he just felt better around Sparks. Whether that was just more déjà vu reminding him of feelings from another lifetime or something else entirely, Sans couldn’t bring himself to care. Sparks might just be the only thing that would allow him to dredge through the days ahead. It was probably selfish to use him like that, but…

Did it really matter in the end?

“Do you… want to come inside?” Sparks asked. The hopeful lilt in the human’s voice made Sans’ soul twinge a little. Sans had really done a number on him, hadn’t he?

“if you don’t mind,” Sans said.

“Not at all.” Sparks smiled and stepped aside, and Sans plopped himself down on the couch. “Do you just want to… put on a show and chill out?”

“yeah. that sounds nice,” Sans said. He leaned against Sparks’ side as the human sat down next to him, some of the tension finally leaving his body.

“So are we…?”

“if you wanna,” Sans said. “sorry for… making such a mess out of everything.”

“It’s alright,” Sparks repeated, putting an arm around Sans’ shoulders and pulling him a little closer. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”

* * *

 

That had come out of  _ nowhere. _

Of all the things you’d been expecting today, Sans knocking on your front door and then immediately kissing you had not been one of them. Which wasn’t to say you were complaining, but…

Once again, everything felt  _ off. _

Your gut instinct told you there was something bigger at play here, and that instinct was rarely wrong. One way or another, you were going to get to the bottom of this. Luckily, you’d made some headway on your projects. It was amazing what you could get done when you worked all hours of the day to distract yourself from what you were feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's about the 25% mark. Yay!
> 
> On a slightly more serious note - this story will be on (brief) hiatus. It may very well be my own paranoia, but there are some aspects to the story thus far that I want to improve/revise, especially with Sparks. I feel like he's drifted into Mary Sue territory and I want to remedy that while this thing is less than 20,000 words still.
> 
> Another thing is that I'm currently laying the groundwork for some original fiction that I'd like to publish someday, and revision is a huuuge part of the process for writing a novel that I haven't had much experience with yet. My fanfiction is all in rough-draft form, so I think this will be a good opportunity to practice these skills.
> 
> This will all be done by the time I upload the next chapter, and while I certainly won't stop you from rereading the fic up to this point I don't think it will be necessary. There won't be any sweeping overhauls to the story, mostly tweaks. 
> 
> Tl;DR - Don't worry, **I fully intend on completing this fic.** I may make irresponsible promises about how often I upload ~~because I always bite off more than I can chew without fail~~ but I am definitely going to continue with this. Hopefully with some stronger writing!
> 
> Thank you for your continued patience,
> 
> PhantomDreamshade--<3


	11. Patience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Sans have some bonding time alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little steamy in this chapter but there's nothing explicit. Just so y'all are aware.

Crim and Paws would be happy to know everything was okay again - better than okay, really. You and Sans were past the strange debacle you’d had a few days ago, and Sans definitely seemed more ‘here’ than he had previously. He was sitting in your lap in fact, your arms wrapped around his chest and a throw blanket draped over both your legs. This was nice, especially after the utter emotional wreck you’d been.

Sans nuzzled under your chin a little and you held him a bit closer in response. God, he gave you butterflies in your stomach. It was hard to even remember what show you were supposed to be watching. You leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek and he grinned back at you, turning a bit to kiss you on the lips again.

You’d think kissing a skeleton would be weird but it wasn’t actually that bad. The same telekinetic cushion on his hands also affected his teeth, making them some approximation of lips. It wasn’t exactly the same thing but it wasn’t uncomfortable either. Plus, the way he giggled through the kiss made your heart flutter.

You leaned back against the sofa, letting Sans rest on top of you somewhat. You looped your arms around his back and he looped his around your neck, not breaking the kiss. You felt your heart start to pound a little heavier as you pulled him flush against your chest, making him straddle your waist. You felt his fingers start to trace your upper back and massage your shoulders.

The blanket tangled around your ankles started to feel a little too warm, so you kicked it onto the floor gently. You let your hands wander a little, fingers slipping under Sans’ jacket and t-shirt until they hit his spine. You could still feel all the grooves and curves in his bones if you pressed your fingers in a bit - doing so made Sans shiver a little and you smiled through the kiss as you felt one of his hands drift up the front of your shirt. This was definitely not how you were expecting your day to go, but… you’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little excited.

Sans shrugged his jacket off slowly and then put both of his hands back under your shirt, kissing you again. You sighed a little, your breathing starting to pick up. You clutched at the hem of his shirt gently.

“Hey… do you wanna…?”

Sans glanced to the side shyly before nodding and putting his arms above his head so you could tug his shirt off. Then you sat up a little to let him do the same to you before rolling onto your side, one arm hugged around his bare ribcage and the other trailing down his arm. He put an arm around your shoulders and kissed you again, a bit more forcefully this time.

He seemed even warmer than normal, his ribs glowing with heat against your skin. He was still broader-built than any human skeleton you’d seen, but without his fluffy jacket on it was even more apparent that you were significantly bigger than him. Lord, he was so damn cute. You started to wonder if this was all just some lucid dream you were having.

The genuine, happy sparkle in his eyelights was too real to be a dream, you decided. You cupped the back of his head and kissed his neck a few times; he hummed softly, gripping your shoulders.

You continued like that for a while, getting hot and heavy, both of you letting your hands wander across the other’s torso. Eventually, getting excited, you slipped your hand past the waistband of his shorts and started massaging his tailbone.

At that, though, Sans stopped and stiffened a bit. You looked at him.

“Everything okay?”

“yeah, just… can we uh… keep it above the belt for tonight?” he asked quietly. You immediately withdrew your hand.

“I’m sorry,” you said. “I thought— I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“it’s okay, really,” he said. “i’m just… not quite there yet.”

“Of course. I’m sorry.”

“really, it’s fine. i was probably giving you those vibes anyway. i gotta start remembering that humans aren’t quite as attuned to that kinda stuff.”

You looked at him, a little confused and nervous. “What do you mean?”

“monsters are kinda empathic,” Sans said. “so it’s really hard to accidentally overstep someone’s boundaries ‘cause you can almost always sense how far they wanna go. you can’t though, i gotta be more clear.”

“It’s not your fault,” you said. “I should have been more clear when I asked you.”

You both laid there awkwardly for a little bit, the mood lost. Sans let out a long sigh.

“hey - what’s a foot long and slippery?”

You blinked. “...Uh…?”

“a slipper.” It was silent for a brief moment before you both laughed and the tension left the air. Sans cuddled against your chest. “see? this only has to get awkward if we let it.”

“If only I was as unflappable as you can be,” you chuckled, holding him close once again. “So… do you need to be anywhere today?”

“i should probably text papyrus and let him know where i am, but otherwise no,” Sans said. “you?”

“Nope,” you said. “Guess that means we have the day to ourselves, since Paws and Crim are gonna be out all day.”

“oh yeah? what are they doing?”

“Crim’s touring the Underground with that Gerson guy today and Paws is doing some tests in the next city over. We don’t have some of the equipment he needed for this one.”

“gotcha,” Sans said. He laid there contemplatively for a little while. “hey - since we’re dating again. mind if i ask you something?” You nodded. “when i took you to grillby’s the first time - what did you mean by ‘swinging your way’?”

“...I was just asking if you were gay or not. Or bi. Or pan,” you said. The confused expression on Sans’ face was enough to tell you that he did not know what any of those meant. “You know… if you were into guys or not? If you were straight it would have been kinda awkward that I asked you out.”

“i don’t… i really don’t get what you’re talking about,” Sans said. “what does you being a guy have to do with anything?”

You had a feeling the confused expression on your face matched Sans’. “So… a straight person is someone that’s attracted only to the opposite gender. A gay man is only attracted to other men, a lesbian woman is only attracted to women, and bisexual and pansexual people aren’t really restricted by gender on who they’re attracted to. Then there’s asexual people who aren’t attracted to anyone— do monsters have different words for this stuff?”

“we don’t have words for it at all,” Sans said. “i mean sure, some people only really end up dating guys, some people date a mix of everyone and so on, but… i dunno. we just never put a label on it. if you like someone you just… ask ‘em out. and if they don’t like you that way they just say no and then everyone moves on assuming someone isn’t a total douche.”

“That… must be nice,” you said. “Up here queer people - meaning people that aren’t straight and cisgender - aren’t treated very well a lot of the time.”

“...why?” Sans asked.

You shrugged. “Welcome to humanity,” you said, your voice a tad bitter.

Sans shook his head and rolled his eyelights in their sockets, baffled by general human stupidity. He sighed a little. “well, for the record - i find you very handsome,” he said with a wink. You chuckled and kissed him.

“I’m just glad I get to be here with you,” you said.

“me too,” Sans said. “sorry that everything’s been so… dramatic recently.”

“My whole life’s been dramatic, it’s nothing new,” you chuckled. You noticed it was strangely silent as you settled back against each other and realized the show had ended. You reached over for the remote and started searching for something else to watch.

You felt Sans slowly tense up again and looked back at him to find him once again staring at your basement door. “Sans?” you said. “Are you okay?”

“...do you hear that?” Sans asked.

There was a very quiet mechanical humming emanating from the door. “My brother just had some sort of distillation running while he was out.”

“what... what is he distilling?”

And he was gone again, that damned confused haze clouding his face. Just what was it about your basement door that kept making him act like this?

“It’s… hard to explain,” you said, trying to draw him away from the topic. He just tensed up even more.

“...right,” he said. You didn’t want to risk upsetting him again, but…

You needed to figure this out. The sooner, the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand I'm back. Rereading the fic up until this point, I think I exaggerated the problems I had with it a little. The only major detail that's changed is that Sparks isn't the alchemist, Paws is (Paws is also a biochemist in his professional career). Anyway - thank you for your patience, and for reading! Have an awesome day!


	12. Trust Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn you and Sans have something in common.

“...Do you wanna go check out the basement?” Sparks said. Sans blinked a little.

“huh?”

“Do you wanna look at my basement? You just seem… really curious about it.” Sparks grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, standing up.

“it’s not any of my business,” Sans said, cursing at himself mentally. What was with that stupid basement? This is exactly what screwed everything up last time.

Sans had no idea what was wrong with himself. He’d spent  _ so _ long learning how to hide his emotions, how not to worry everyone else when there was nothing anyone could do. He’d barely felt a thing for anything or anyone for what seemed like forever. So why, now, was he feeling so much that he was falling apart at the seams? He didn’t even know what most of these feelings  _ were,  _ they were all so intense and blended together. Why couldn’t he put his mask on and hide them for one fucking day?

“Sans.” Sparks was kneeling in front of him now, hands planted on Sans’ shoulders. When had he even gotten there? The rims of his eyesockets felt wet and Sans reached up to cover his face, hands shaking a little. “Sans, please,” Sparks said. “I really… I really don’t want to overstep or invade your privacy, but you really don’t seem well. Please tell me what’s going on. Please.”

Frustration made its way to the forefront of what Sans was feeling and the little bit of restraint he had left snapped.

“i don’t fucking know!” he shouted. “i don’t know! i know something’s wrong and i  _ don’t know what.  _ i don’t know why i keep spacing out constantly, i don’t know why i can’t keep control of myself, i don’t know why i’ve been such a fucking disaster since i got up here! i don’t know!” A few moments passed and all Sans could hear was his bones rattling together.

“...Okay,” Sparks said. His voice was calm, pacifying. “That’s something we can work with. Thank you for telling me.”

Sans uncovered his eyes and took in a shaky breath, looking at Sparks. “i’m not like this,” he said. “i’m not usually such a fucking wreck. i don’t know what’s going on. i really don’t know.”

“It’s okay,” Sparks said. “We’re gonna figure it out and we’re gonna fix it. Okay? You can trust me.”

“...i know i can,” Sans said quietly. He closed his eyes and focused on calming his breathing. It was actually somewhat of a release to let some of it out.

“Come on, let me take you around the basement,” Sparks said.

“...why?”

“It seems to put you on edge and I don’t want it to feel like I’m hiding something from you. You can ask me whatever you want and… I promise I’ll be truthful. We can start with that and go from there. Okay?”

“...okay,” Sans said. It wasn’t like he had any better options since his default of “don’t care” was no longer valid apparently. He grabbed his t-shirt and jacket and followed Sparks to the steps; as he descended, his discomfort became sharper and sharper.

It dug up some old memories Sans didn’t care to remember, sure, but there had to be something else about this place that was driving him insane. He focused, trying to pick up on whatever it was.

At first he thought it was all in his head, but as he descended further he began to wonder if that was really the case. There was something else off - something in the air. It was… the energy of the place, something discordant with the magic that made up his body. It became even more pronounced when Sparks opened the locked door at the bottom of the steps. It was like the air itself  _ stung  _ a little.

“So Crim keeps the materials she’s restoring in that room there,” Sparks said. “And over here—”

“is paws’ lab,” Sans guessed, walking towards it. Sparks followed him in.

Sans pointed to some sort of machine - it was attached to a bag of some deep crimson liquid. It was apparently the source of the humming he’d heard earlier.

“what is that stuff?” he asked.

“That? It’s… well. My blood,” Sparks said.

“...blood? isn’t that like… the liquid stuff that’s inside you? why is it in that machine?”

“We’re distilling something out of it,” Sparks said. “Human magic gets infused into their blood in trace quantities, and we need something called red mana for a lot of the tests we’re running. My blood’s the only way to get any significant amount of it up here. In some circles it’s called—”

“determination,” Sans finished for him, a wave of dread churning his nonexistent insides. It couldn’t be. There was no possible way it was  _ him. _

* * *

“Sans?” You said. Sans’ eyelights had flickered out completely and the skeleton was staring off into nothing. “Sans, what’s wrong?”

“what… do you use that stuff for?” Sans said. You could barely hear him, he spoke so quietly.

“...I… I really don’t think you want to know, Sans,” you said. “It’s… it’s not a good thing. I don’t want to worry you.”

“i…  _ need… _ to know what you’re using it for,” Sans said.

You couldn’t burden him with  _ that _ knowledge, could you? Were you really that cruel? You’d been desperate for someone to know for a long time, but as you’d learned from Paws and Crim, it really was pointless. And a waste of precious time explaining. But there was something about the way Sans said it - like he already knew more than he let on. If this is what it took to figure out what was going on with him, then…

You sighed deeply, rubbing the back of your neck as you tried to find the words to explain. “Red mana has… really strange temporal properties. We’ve been using it to try and track a temporal anomaly for quite some time.”

Sans looked up at you immediately. “wait… track?”

You felt your mouth go dry for a second. “Sans… the world’s been stuck in a time loop for what amounts to almost twelve years now,” you said, deciding there wasn’t a way to break such news gently. Sans’ eyes immediately went wide, more tears welling up along the rims. You looked at him, trying to read his reaction.

“...you know about the resets?” Sans asked. You felt your heart stop beating in your chest.

“Y…  _ you  _ know about them?” you said. Sans staggered backward a little, sliding down against the wall, and you took a few steps back. “Oh my god. Oh my  _ god.” _

“i thought i was the only one that knew this whole time,” Sans said. “i completely gave up on ever… god, i’ve been so  _ alone.”  _ He buried his face in his knees, sobbing silently.

“So you remembered me this whole time?” you asked, staring at him, barely able to breathe.

“you… you  _ remember  _ everything?” Sans looked up at you.

“...You don’t?”

“i just… know they happen,” Sans said. You felt a twinge of pain in your chest. Just when you thought you’d found someone so could talk to finally. “and get… really strong déjà vu. like i know when something’s happened before. that’s… that’s why everything went so fast with you. because… because we were already…” He stared into your eyes, searching for something. “how many times have we…?”

“...Just once,” you said. “Last loop was the first time the monsters appeared on the surface. The anomaly’s usual patterns shifted, I thought… I thought it might have just disappeared somehow. Nothing happened for almost a year so I decided to try and do something with my life and…” You smiled a little and tears started rolling down your face. “And I met you. And… and we were together for more than a year after that, and we were happy, and then…”

“...it happened again,” Sans finished for you.

“I was so… I was so  _ devastated.  _ But I couldn’t just give up, so I started doing prep work to get the monsters integrated into Ebott faster the next time they came. I kept an eye on the barrier so that I knew the moment it was broken. And then I met you again and god it  _ hurt, _ but… I couldn’t let you go.”

“i can’t believe it,” Sans said. “god, i can’t… all this time, you were…”

The words eluded him and you sat down next to him, still a little numb with disbelief. He looked at you, and you looked back at him. And then, Sans curled up against you, burying his face in your chest and crying silently once again. You wrapped your arms around him as tight as you could, resting your chin on top of his skull and crying as well. You stayed like that for a long, long while, time seeming to stand still around you.

“...now who’s the wreck?” Sans mumbled into your chest after a while.

“It’s still you,” you said. You both laughed through your tears, finally taking a break from crying to get some oxygen into your lungs. It was hard to find the will to move now, you were so emotionally spent. You released your death grip on Sans and he readjusted himself to lay against you shoulder.

“so now what?” Sans asked.

“We figure out a way to stop the time loops,” you said. “All the progress I’ve made has been super slow considering the science portion of it isn’t my forte and I have to re-explain everything to Crim and Paws every time. But with you…”

“...yeah. and with you i’ll finally be able to save all the work i do. we might actually get somewhere.” Sans stared off into the distance, gears turning in his head. “though it might be a little counterproductive if i have a complete breakdown like this every time.”

You thought for a moment before standing up. “Where are you at the start of the loop?” you asked.

“we’re doing this already?”

“No, just… I have an idea,” you said.

“...in bed,” Sans answered you. “why?”

You started rummaging through your pockets for your keys and went over to a locked cabinet. You opened it and pulled out a very small vial of maroon liquid. Then you ran over to your printer and grabbed a piece of paper.

“what are you doing?” Sans asked.

“If we’re lucky and we can figure this out before time loops again, you’ll never have to find out,” you said. “Can you meet me upstairs in a few minutes? I need you to take me to your old house.”

Sans looked at you curiously and then sighed tiredly. “...alright.”

* * *

“...How the hell does that even work?” You asked, looking at the swirling tornado of trash in Sans’ old room in the Underground.

“magic,” Sans replied, smirking slightly. You set something down next to his bare mattress and turned around to leave. “are you really not going to tell me what you’re doing?”

“We’ve both had enough emotions for one day,” you said. “Like I said. Hopefully it won’t matter.”

“if you say so,” Sans said. He sighed as you took his hand again and teleported back to your house.

“It’s getting late,” you said. “Papyrus will probably be wondering where you are.”

“i’ll text him again,” Sans said. “um. if… it’s okay that i stay here tonight?”

You smiled a little. “...Of course it is.”

You laid down in your boxers and t-shirt next to Sans, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. God, you were tired. But happy, too. Happy that there was finally someone you could share this burden with, and that it was  _ Sans  _ of all people. It was almost surreal. Even if he didn’t  _ remember- _ remember everything, it was still more than you’d ever hoped.

“Night, Sans,” you said, closing your eyes.

“...night, sparks.”

* * *

You stretched a little and yawned, still feeling sleepy. Yesterday had been a long, long day and to be perfectly honest you didn’t really want to start research on the anomaly quite yet. One day of spending time with Sans wouldn’t destroy the universe. You opened your eyes, grinning a little when you thought of his goofy sleeping face. You hadn’t woken up with him like this in a long time.

Your smile faded as you looked around. He wasn’t there.

“Sans?” You sat bolt upright, grabbing your phone and looking at the date. Then you screamed in frustration and threw the phone across the room, burying your face in your hands.

God  _ dammit. _


End file.
